Mindo -- Birds of Mindo, Part 2

I went out to the same bird watching location a second day, this time in the rain.  The photos may not be quite as clear but I think the birds are still just as lovely as ever.

This first photo may be my favorite from the trip.  There's this little fellow sitting on the sign for his feeding station looking exactly like the bird painted there.  Was he posing for me, do you think?  Probably not.

Our tour guide, Euni, captured this picture on our last morning there.  It was raining again and I decided I didn't think I wanted to go one more time.  Darn!  Well, I'm just glad she got the shot.

A toucan in all his glory!

Mindo -- Birds of Mindo, Part 1

There's just nothing quite like the butterflies and birds of Mindo.  I'm sure there are many other places where there are as many and possibly even more but I haven't been there and so I'm just thrilled to be able to share these with you.

Enjoy.

Our first outing to see the birds was to a nearby hostal/restaurant that had a bird viewing area in the back.  If you ate there, the admission was free--if not, it was $2.  Either way it was a great deal.  The people have a variety of feeding stations set up to attract the local birds and they succeed beautifully!

Mindo -- Chocolate, Flowers, and Miscellaneous

Our first day in Mindo we took a tour of a chocolate factory.  The tour was fun and the tasting afterwards was even more fun.

Our tour guide, Jorge, is describing the process of drying the cocoa beans.  (Isn't he cute?)

The view from the balcony at the factory.

End of the World and Christmas Party

One of the restaurants in town decided to have and End of the World and Christmas Party on December 20th.  Reservations were required and it's a good thing because the place was packed for both seatings.

Some of my dinner mates.  You hear me talk about Jack and his email list all the time--well, that's Jack up close and personal.  Now you have a face to go with the name.

One of the things I love about Casi Olivias is the mural painting on the walls.

Our host, Rudolpho, offered several toasts...

one of which was to a man who was born in Oklahoma City on the day of the bombing back in 1995.  Now there's a claim to fame I don't think I'd want to have.

 Our chef and sous chef mugging for the camera.

Ah, that's better.  The meal was fabulous, the company was bun, and a good time was had by all.

My Trip to Mindo--The Journey Begins

This past week I was able to go down to Mindo for four days and I had the most magnificent time! I have tons of photos to share of course and much to tell you about this lovely, little tourist town in the Cloud Forest.

We traveled in style:

Our bus was a school bus and, as such, made for somewhat smaller people than most of us but it was still very comfortable and it was lovely to have such a delightful driver, Rolando.  We were on our way from sunny Cotacachi at 8:30 Monday morning.

The President Comes To Town

Yesterday was a big day for Cotacacheños--President Raphael Correa came to town for a brief visit.

The president is the guy smiling almost in the center of the photo.  None of these pictures are great.  Unlike my friend, I was much further back in the crowd and was using my telephoto lens in the pitch dark with people surrounding me.  I'm just glad I got more than crowd shots.

Grand Openings

We recently had two new businesses open on the same day.  It was lots of fun and I wanted to share that with you.

There is a new restaurant in town (of course there is--we have new restaurants opening on a regular basis here) but this one is a wee bit different.  It's a totally vegan restaurant.  It's owned and operated by an Ecuadorian family who don't speak English but the chef does and he loves talking about the food he makes so it's lovely to be able to hear what is in something until my Spanish gets to the point where I can understand all of that.

The decor is lovely with tables set a comfortable distance apart.